Men's Basketball: Americans taught lesson in 'perfect' team play

Mark Fainaru-Wada, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, August 28, 2004

Photo: DUSAN VRANIC

Image 1of/2

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 2

Argentina's Walter Herrmann (8) goes over the head of the USA's Carlos Boozer to make a shot in the second period of their game at the Olympic Indoor Hall during the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece on Friday, Aug. 27, 2004. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic) less

Argentina's Walter Herrmann (8) goes over the head of the USA's Carlos Boozer to make a shot in the second period of their game at the Olympic Indoor Hall during the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece on Friday, ... more

Photo: DUSAN VRANIC

Image 2 of 2

USA's Allen Iverson (4) walks off the court as Argentina's Emanuel Ginobili celebrates at the end of their basketball semi final game at the Olympic Indoor Hall during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece on Friday, Aug. 27, 2004. Argentina beat the USA 89-81 and Genobili scored 29 poins in the effort. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) less

USA's Allen Iverson (4) walks off the court as Argentina's Emanuel Ginobili celebrates at the end of their basketball semi final game at the Olympic Indoor Hall during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece ... more

Photo: MICHAEL CONROY

Men's Basketball: Americans taught lesson in 'perfect' team play

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

2004-08-28 04:00:00 PDT Athens -- There will be no stopping this freight train.

No matter how much Larry Brown explains the obstacles his Team USA had to overcome. No matter how sincere Allen Iverson is about being honored to play for his country. No matter how vehemently and convincingly Gregg Popovich insists the American fans' way of assessing the competition is plain wrong. No matter how long David Stern lectures about team play and the misguided media.

Nobody will reconcile how 12 of the world's best and highest-paid professional basketball players from the world's superpower lost at the Olympics to Argentina, a country with about one-seventh the population of the United States and with zero medals in a sport that has been handing them out since 1936.

The reaction can't -- and won't -- line up any other way, which actually is quite unfortunate for Argentina. For in beating the Americans 89- 81 in a semifinal game Friday at Olympic Indoor Hall, the Argentines clearly were superior as a team. They shot 54 percent from the field and 50 percent on 3-pointers, they hung with the much bigger Americans on the boards, they handed out 18 assists and they played, as Iverson said, "perfect" team basketball. A contrast to the Americans, who regressed to their typically poor shooting ways (42 percent overall, 27 percent on 3-pointers) and showed only hints of the team ball they demonstrated in a quarterfinal win over Spain.

Argentina's celebration, raucous and spontaneous and meaningful, was a pure Olympic moment: coaches lifting each other in the air, players jumping on risers, fans singing, team officials weeping.

For the Americans, though, this, too, is a really big thing. Losing. This will be the first squad of NBA players to come home without gold -- a far cry from the Dream Team of '92 in Barcelona, where the opponents were overjoyed simply to get an autograph from Michael or a chance for a photo with Magic and Sir Charles.

"That is a myth now," said Juan Ignacio Sanchez, a.k.a. Pepe, the Argentina point guard who starred at Temple and has bounced between the NBA and several European pro teams since 2000.

Sanchez and his teammates meet Italy tonight for the gold medal, the Italians having knocked off Lithuania 100-91. The Americans, thus, face Lithuania in an earlier game to decide who will wear bronze or who will wear nothing -- a notion Iverson, Tim Duncan, Stephon Marbury, LeBron James and the rest of Team USA can't possibly have contemplated.

How difficult will it be to come back for that?

"It will be a monster," said Popovich, the San Antonio Spurs' coach who has served as Brown's chief assistant here. "It will be really tough."

Popovich has extensive experience around the international game and with international players -- he coaches Argentina's star player, Manu Ginobili, on the Spurs -- so he insisted Friday's loss should not be viewed through a prism of shock. He certainly was disappointed, angry and frustrated, all the things that come with a bitter loss, but not stunned.

Instead, Popovich lashed out at anyone in the media who has questioned these players' attitudes or approach, he shredded the American need to blame as "childish," and he scolded those who don't realize that the basketball world has come a long way since '92.

"If people don't understand how good these teams are, they're just ignorant," Popovich said. "They're living in a phone booth."

Somebody better ring up a new formula for the Americans or this could become a regular happening. These are clearly new times, and NBA Commissioner Stern vigorously tried to make that point during a halftime interview with American reporters. In some ways, it had the sound of a concession speech, Stern citing the Pistons' defeat of the "superior" Lakers in the NBA Finals as an example of team play at work.

Stern also took a couple subtle digs at Brown. The coach has publicly criticized his team and also essentially insulted USA Basketball by questioning the selection process. He did more of the same Friday.

"It's not about who didn't come," Stern said. "In all sports, you take your team to the gym, you play with what you've got. And this whining and carping is not fair to the young men ... who are representing their country admirably and well."

Still, only three of the young men on this roster were on the 12-man roster that routed the field at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico a year ago. After that, there were a series of departures for various reasons, some good, some a bit weak.

Said Brown: "All the preparation we'd done in Puerto Rico was more or less wasted."

Ultimately, the real issue for the Americans might come down not only to time but also to approach. Stern and others talked about the need to find a way for whoever joins the U.S. Olympic team to play together longer, to become more of a unit.

But there's also the matter of a fundamental difference right now between how the Americans play and how the rest of the world does; unlike in the NBA, that matters here.

Now Playing:

"It's a team sport," Sanchez said. "You play 5-on-5, not 1-on-1."

But is anybody listening?

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.